


(Grand)Mother Duck

by Lilsciencequeen



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family, Family Fluff, Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-14 04:55:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14128530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilsciencequeen/pseuds/Lilsciencequeen
Summary: “I don’t think so,” Jemma told him, snatching the pack out of his hand and walking back across the kitchen, stretching up and placing it in a cupboard. Not that the action surprised him at this point, this was the second time this week that she had caught him sneaking snacks before dinner. He just couldn’t help it, all the food that was on the base, it was all so good, better than anything that he had gotten when he had lived in the Lighthouse. “You know dinner’s going to be ready in an hour, and how many time have I told you not to eat before your dinner, that if you do you’ll just ruin your appetite?”// In which Deke learns just how much of a maternal instinct Jemma has.





	(Grand)Mother Duck

“I don’t think so,” Jemma told him, snatching the pack out of his hand and walking back across the kitchen, stretching up and placing it in a cupboard. Not that the action surprised him at this point, this was the second time this week that she had caught him sneaking snacks before dinner. He just couldn’t help it, all the food that was on the base, it was all so good, better than anything that he had gotten when he had lived in the Lighthouse. “You know dinner’s going to be ready in an hour, and how many time have I told you not to eat before your dinner, that if you do you’ll just ruin your appetite?”

“Umm..” Deke said, unable to find the words, slightly confused about what was just happening. “A couple of times? I think?”

Jemma just shook her head and turned back to face him. “Deke, I know that this is all so exciting for you, being back in the present, but you have to take care of yourself, of your body. Throwing all that processed junk in it, it’s not going to be good for it, no matter how great it tastes.” She stared at him for a moment before a ripple passed across her face, as if she were realising something, then she pushed herself from the counter and what could only be described as waddled from the kitchen.

Deke watched her go, no less confused than he had been just mere seconds ago and as he watched her go a snort from Daisy brought him back her to the present, or the past, whatever. He didn’t even truly know at this point. “Have you never been mothered by Jemma before then?” Daisy asked, looking up from her tablet, at Deke, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Or in your case grandmothered?”

Deke had no reply to this, just stared at her, mouth and eyes wide. Then he snapped back, able to speak, his mind forming the words that he wanted it to. “Is she? Has she always been like that? Motherly? Or is it just because of the… you know…” He extended his hands from his abdomen, as if to mimic pregnancy. He had had Jemma look out for him, especially in the past couple of months, ever since she had found out she was pregnant, and that they had all found out that he was their grandson. At first, he just it was just part of her personality, just who she was, but now that Daisy mentioned it, it all started to make sense.

Jemma not wanting him to leave the base without a coat in case he got a cold, and if he did ignore her words and went ahead and got that cold, she wouldn’t be the one looking after him, that he would just have to put up with it and be miserable (but whispered words in his ear from Fitz told him not to worry over it, that if he did catch the cold Jemma would look after him, she couldn’t not, and that whining and acting like a baby always just made her act that bit more loving and forgiving).

Jemma patching him up after a mission got wrong. It had only been a graze, but still she had fussed over him like it was the worst possible injury that anyone could get. It had been nice though, having someone fuss over him like that, tend to him like that. He hadn’t had that in over twenty years, ever since his mother had died (not that he tried to think about that, not that he _mentioned_ that, not when Jemma was pregnant with her at that very moment).

Jemma sitting with him after a nightmare, making him a hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows and sprinkles (something that now featured in his dreams, because it was truly, really, beautiful) , talking him through it and telling him that it was okay, that there was nothing for him to worry over, it was all just a dream.

A sigh came from Daisy who locked her tablet and set it down. “I don’t know if it’s the hormones or not, but Jemma’s always been kind hearted, wanting to help everyone and anyone. No matter who they were, what they had done, she always saw the best in people.”

“Saw? As in past tense?”

A pause from Daisy before she spoke again. “Jemma, Fitz, they’ve both been through a lot these past couple years, and Jemma’s… she’s lost a lot, she’s been hurt a lot. She doesn’t trust as much anymore, she’s not as open as she was, and I don’t blame her, but that instinct to protect, it’s always been there.”

“Is it… does it not get annoying sometimes, having someone watching your every move?” He hated asking the question aloud, knowing that maybe he was going to cross over some boundary he didn’t know existed.

Daisy stared at him for a moment, and then nodded, her face relaxing. “It can be,” she told him, letting out a breath. “Especially when she has you bed bound for days in medical and you can’t do anything…But we all let her do it, it seems… it seems to help her relax, keeps her calm. She likes being in control of a situation and…” Daisy trailed off, seeing Jemma approach again, waddling somewhat less now than she had been earlier.

And she smiled at them, looking between them her expression turning more quizzical. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah it is,” Deke replied, looking at his grandmother, the concern oh so evident on her face, but love was there to. So much love.

***

It was in the days that followed his conversation that he realised just how much of a mother Jemma was to everyone else on the team, just how far her instincts to care and nurture stretched.

He knew that she was a caring open person, who wanted everyone to be okay, to be well and to be healthy, and she often put them before herself, his own mom had told him that more often that not, but to actually see it play out before his eyes, it was something else.

He had never known his maternal grandparents, they had both died before he was born, and all his life, he had wanted to meet them, to know if they were as good as his mum had made them out to be, and now here he was, witnessing it with his own two eyes, and it was everything he wanted and more.

Her father was just like she had always described him, loving and caring, completely devoted to his wife and always hungry (and now he knew where he got that from) and her mother was the kind caring woman that he had always heard about before going to bed.

Even this late in her pregnancy Jemma was still helping others, bustling about the control room or medical bay, doing what she could do to help the team and their mission to stop the end of the world from occurring. He had asked her about it, wondering if she should still be doing stuff, being as busy as a bee (some old proverb his mum had always taught him, not that he had ever even seen a bee, and didn’t even know if busy was something that they were), but Jemma had just laughed at him, and shaken her head, saying that she still had two months left of her pregnancy.

“Two months?” he has asked her, staring at her (and her bump, his unborn mother) in shock and horror, wondering how much bigger she could get because she was already pretty damn big (not that he had said that aloud, well not this time, Daisy had already hit him across the back of the head for mentioning it the last time). “Two months?”

Jemma had nodded, as though it were no big deal, and cradled her abdomen, rubbing at it, a soft smile crossing her face. “Yeah, she’s still growing in there, she’s not ready, not yet.” She frowned at him. “You really don’t know much about pregnancy, do you?”

He had shaken his head after her question, nervously scratching at his neck. “No, no I was one of the last born in the Lighthouse, well the natural human way of course.”

“Ahh,” Jemma had nodded, understanding, and reached for one of the spare tablets that always seemed to be hanging around the base before collapsing into the seat. She swiped at the screen a few times, her fingers tapping out something. Then she passed it to him, a smile on her face. “I know its language is a bit basic, compared to what you’re used to, but it might be insightful.”

He had accepted the tablet with thanks, and looked at the screen, at the pregnant woman cradling her bump like Jemma often did, and the words _What To Expect When You’re Expecting_ next to it. And later that night, he had gotten stuck into it, ploughing through the first handful of pages, going onto Google every so often to find out more information or videos about it (though there were a handful he regretted, such as the videos that showed the birth, and the after birth. He just prayed that he wouldn’t be there when Jemma delivered her child).

That was a week ago now, and she was still bustling about, as if nothing could stop her, and they had in fact tried to stop her, to get her to rest, to get her to take a break for even a moment. But here she was still going, refusing to let even pregnancy stop her.

“Fitz!” she suddenly exclaimed, looking at her husband with wide eyes. Deke looked up from what he was reading, as did everyone else, who were curious about to what was happening, but when they just saw it was Jemma most likely about to lecture Fitz about one thing or another they returned their attention back to what they were doing, but Deke never. He liked watching these moments, watching his family interact. He hadn’t gotten to see anything like this growing up, so to get to experience it now, it was special.

“What?” her husband replied, his month full of whatever junk food it was that he was eating. “I’m hungry, and we’ve had dinner, you can’t shout at me this time.”

“But pretzels, Fitz, think about how much salt is in them, and you’ve already had Maltesers today. And the Hobnobs, we had a whole packet yesterday, and I only had three last night, so they can’t have all already vanished, and no one else likes them except us. I just…” She stopped trailing off, her speech having lost all momentum.

Fitz just stared at her, dropping what was in his hand back in his bowl before standing up and wrapping his arms around his wife, Jemma sighing as he did so, her arms coming to wrap around him, her head coming to rest on his shoulder. “I just… I wanna look out for you,” she whispered, her words already heavy with emotions, and if Deke could see her face, he knew there would be tears clinging to her lashes.

“I know,” came Fitz’s voice, soft and full of love. “I know you are, but a couple of pretzels on a Friday evening isn’t going to do me any harm.”

“I’m just… I’m tired and I’m hungry and I want to sleep and I need to pee.”

“She leaning against your bladder again?”

A nod from Jemma, and Fitz pressed his lips to her temple, holding her close as he did so. “C’mon then,” he told her, leaning back and smiling at her, a soft reassuring smile, one that reminded him of his mother so much. “Let’s get you to the bathroom, get you something to eat then head to bed?”

She nodded again, and closed her eyes, her lashes fluttering against her skin as he pressed a kiss to her forehead this time, before wrapping his arm around her and helping to guide her from the room, her head coming to rest on his shoulder as though it were home, which Deke supposed it was. He was her life, her heart, her home.

He watched their retreating figures, watching them as they left.

“They’re going to be great parents,” Daisy whispered from beside him, in awe like him.

He nodded, knowing that they were going to be the best. “Yeah, they really are.”

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone wants to read more of Deke and pregnant!Jemma, check out [Circle Of Life](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13992546) by stjarna
> 
> Thanks so much for checking this one out, I really hope you enjoyed this


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